Ovechkin played two playoff games with broken foot

May 16, 2013|Reuters

The Sports Xchange

Ovechkin played two playoff games with broken foot

Losing is painful enough, but Washington Capitals center Alex Ovechkin endured even more suffering while managing to play with a broken left foot in the final two games of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series with the New York Rangers.

Ovechkin sustained a hairline fracture in the first period of Game 6 when he blocked two shots by Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh. The first shot came at 14:29 and left Ovechkin struggling to get up off the ice.

Ovechkin soldiered on in the final two games of the series. He took six shots on goal and had 16 hits but was limited to an average of 19 minutes per game and had no points. He finished the series with one goal and one assist.

After the Capitals were eliminated by the Rangers, Ovechkin's season didn't end there. He went to Helsinki, Finland, to play for Russia in the 2013 IIHF World Championship. In a quarterfinal game on Thursday, Ovechkin had a goal and an assist in an 8-3 loss to the United States.